Sick Anemone?

[gefilte]

I have a 65 gal SW tank. I have a bubble tip anemone that has been in the tank about three weeks. The first few days, he spent looking for a home. He has been in the same place since. He was shrinking and opening pretty regularly at first, but in the last week, he has been shrinking and not really opening as well. He would open when the light was on and shrink when it went off. I had been using 4 hours of light per day. Today he is as small as I have seen. He's about the size of a quarter and you can't see any of his tips. The LFS said to increase it to 8 hours which I did today, but he didn't open at all. He still has his foot attached to a rock, but he doesn't look good. My water checks out OK and the rest of my fish are fine. Any ideas? Is he dead? Should I take him out? What can I do?

 

[fishnfreak]

Well I know that when I add my Trace elements and Iodine my anemonies really love it.... I seems to make them expand nicely.... Are you give it suppliments...???
What are you feeding it?
What are you running for lights?
How are your water readings??
Some people say they do better with as a host?

 

[reefrunner69]

A 2fer

to AquariumAdvice.com, fishnfreak and geflite!!!!

What lights do you have, type and wattage? I would highly recommend you move to a 12 hour photoperiod. Are you feeding the anemone?

 

[gefilte]

I'm kind of new at this. Well, not kind of...my tank has been set up for about 7 weeks. I have been adding 3 drops of Lugol's every week and add Tech CB (A and B) every morning. I have been feeding brine and flake food. I tried to feed it a little uncooked raw shrimp last night but he wouldn't open at all. He looked like he might have been dropping this morning-as in losing his foothold, so I have to check when I get home.

As for lighting, I have a 48" Coralife Aqualight that I believe has 260W total lighting with 2 Coralife SP 65W 10000K Bulb and 2 Coralife SP 65W Actinic Bulbs.
The rest of the crew in the tank is a yellow tang, 2 clowns,a royal gramma, gold headed goby, 5 blue leg crabs, 3 mexican turbo snails and 5 small snails. Oh, and I almost forgot, 100 lbs of rock (Fiji and Caribbean).

Other than losing a couple of snails, everyone else is doing great. The water has been consistently testing good.

Do you think the lighting is what did it? Isn't 12 hours too much for the others? Won't that create a bunch of algae?

 

[MT79]

As for dosing lugol's a good rule of thumb is don't add what you don't test for! Regular water changes should replace most of what you need, and get rid of the nitrate. Your lighting sounds good, but a 12 hour photoperiod is essential! As for algae it happens, especially in new tanks, but your yellow tang will love you for it!

 

[reefrunner69]

Do you think the lighting is what did it? Isn't 12 hours too much for the others? Won't that create a bunch of algae?

No, a tropical day is 12-14 hours long. It may create algae if there are alot of nutrients. I would recommend right now you attempt to (but don't force) to feed the anemone some silversides. It has not gotten anywhere near the amount of light it needs for as long as you've had it, it needs the nourishment.

 

[jmdearras]

My bubbletip does not like bright light. Also, it has looked quite dead on occasion. Once the tank settled down, and he found a place he liked (inside a cave, in the dark!) he has been fine.

I have no good advice for you other that those things can look quite dead and gone, and still be fine.